Sea Day, Heading to Antarctica

Paul had to get up for work at midnight so his alarm clock woke me up, and then 5 to 10 minutes later the Bridge called to wake him up for his shift (ha, Paul was already up!). I went back to sleep, and the next thing, the Bridge rang to find Paul. I explained that Paul had gone to the Bridge at midnight (it was now around 2:30). They said they would send security to look for him. I started to panic because maybe something had happened between leaving the cabin and going to the Bridge – had he collapsed and was ill somewhere??  I quickly put on a dressing gown and went to the Staff Captain’s office in case Paul was there for some reason, but it was locked, so I went back to the cabin - just as the Bridge called back again, to say Paul had been found in the bow lounge, and that he was ok. Whew! A few minutes later Paul phoned, hail and hearty. He explained that the fog dissipated eventually, and there was no ice around either, so he was able to stand down from his duties.  Not a problem. But he was wide awake, so he decided to go to the bow lounge to read for a bit instead of disturbing me in the cabin by putting a light on to read.  A chap from security found him there and told him he was needed back on the Bridge because of the fog. At least he was ok, but it had left me feeling very worried!

About an hour or so later, my sleep was interrupted again. It was one of the officers on the Bridge putting in a ship-wide announcement, asking for the crew medical assistance team to go to deck 3. Yawn... I managed to fall back to sleep again.

At some stage, after Paul got back from his shift, the Captain made a ship-wide announcement that woke me up yet again. He apologised for he medical assistance announcement during the early hours and disturbing our sleep. Apparently, a young man had collapsed during the early hours of the morning, needing medical attention. He also advised us that we were changing sailing course. We were heading towards Antarctica via the largest iceberg, A23a, in a south easterly direction. However, because the man’s condition is over and above what the ship’s emergency medical team and ICU can deal with, we were now heading towards King George Island, Antarctica, in a south easterly direction, a distance of 700 nautical miles. Ushuaia is 1000 nautical miles away so we might as well head to the closest place for a medical evacuation. At King George Island, the man would be able to get medical assistance or will be flown to Ushuaia. It means that there is a change in the sailing schedule to meet the needs of a critically ill person, and it is something that is of the essence when so far away from land. So the ship is sailing faster, bearing in mind weather, sea and wind conditions can affect it.

After that last announcement, Paul and I were wide awake and didn’t go back to sleep. We ended up having an early lunch and then sitting in a hot tub for a while. Paul has to get some sleep in before his shift this evening, so he’s out like a light again.Okumaya devam et